Question

I’m trying to convert the following code to a GENERIC function, by eliminating the need to hardcode my ‘control comparison’. any way to achieve this?:)

    private Control getControlByAccessible(string accessDesc, string accessName, Control wrapper)
    {
        foreach (Control ctrl in wrapper.Controls)
        {
            if (ctrl is TextBox)
            if (ctrl.AccessibleDescription == accessDesc && ctrl.AccessibleName == accessName)
                return ctrl;
        }
        return null;
    }

This was my first attempt, wasn’t yield any result so far.

    private Control getControlByAccessible(string accessDesc, string accessName, Control wrapper, Type aControlType)
    {
        foreach (Control ctrl in wrapper.Controls)
        {
            if (ctrl is aControlType)
            if (ctrl.AccessibleDescription == accessDesc && ctrl.AccessibleName == accessName)
                return ctrl;
        }
        return null;
    }

Answer 1

You can use Type.IsInstanceOfType:

if (aControlType.IsInstanceOfType(ctrl))

However, I would personally make it a genuinely generic method with a type parameter if possible, then use LINQ’s OfType method. I’d also probably make it an extension method:

// This would need to be in a top-level non-generic class
public static T GetControlByAccessible<T>(this Control wrapper,
    string description, string name) where T : Control
{
    return wrapper.Controls
                  .OfType<T>()
                  .FirstOrDefault(c => c.AccessibleDescription == description &&
                                       c.AccessibleName == name);
}

Then call it like this:

TextBox tb = someContainer.GetControlByAccessible<TextBox>("name", "desc");